


Not easy, not expected

by Saraste



Series: A month of nwalin [10]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt, Ered Luin, Low Sense of Self, M/M, Pre-Guest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 16:43:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9280385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saraste/pseuds/Saraste
Summary: Nori cannot be what Dwalin deserves.





	

Staying would have been easy, it would have been the expected option. But let it not be said that Nori, of the family of Ri, ever took the easy way out or did what was expected. For instance, his brother  _ hadn’t _ expected him to become a thief during their time of privation, when little Ori had cried himself to sleep, nor had it been easy, easy to choose, mayhaps, but not easy in practice.

 

_ ‘You’re a disgrace!’ ‘He cries at night, his belly empty, what would you have me do? Whore rather than steal?’ _

 

Staying with Dwalin would have been easy, bedding him had always been easy and delightful, once Nori had wormed his way into his trousers. 

 

_ ‘Happy you gave in, now… Dwalin?I always get what I want, and what I want is...’ ‘Nori… do that again….’ _

 

It should have been. 

 

But it was Nori who made it difficult. 

 

It would have been expected, Nori had practically seen Dori picturing him with Dwalin’s braids in his hair, Nori’s place in the world secured for the rest of his life, even in the event of Dwalin’s death. Nori would have been braided, wed into the house of Durin, and it would have been everything.

 

_ ‘You ought to behave, now, leave your thieving ways.’ ‘I already stole what I wanted from him, anyway…’ _

 

As Nori watched Ered Luin receding in the distance, he was sure that Dori would get to see Durin braids in Ori’s hair sooner or later, getting that security for one of his siblings. It just wouldn’t be Nori. Nori, who chafed at the idea of being tied down, of belonging to someone else in that way, even if he would belong to that someone in the same way also. To Dwalin, Dwalin to him.

 

But he couldn’t. Couldn’t give Dwalin the chance. He’d seen the beads Dwalin had been working on, even when he shouldn’t have, for he had curious fingers which had a tendency to find and latch onto things they shouldn’t touch. Nori had seen them and touched them, imagined Dwalin braiding him with promise and securing the beads at the ends of braids. He’d imagined and been joyous. He’d imagined and been afraid.

 

And he’d fled. 

 

Dwalin deserved better than him. Even if he smiled at Nori in the mornings like he was the very best thing, even if his eyes shone with such adoration Nori could scarce bear it sometimes, even if he told Nori he loved him… like it was an unshakeable truth.

 

It might be. 

 

What was was that Nori loved Dwalin enough to let him go, too much to stay with him, to let Dwalin bind him, them, only to find out Nori was of a wandering nature, that he was a thief by want more than need, that he was, in fact, bad news.

 

Because Dwalin did not know that the thief he’d crossed paths with was the russet-haired lover who shared his bed, who had entertained the thought that he could settle down, to try and be what he ought. What he should have been. What Dwalin deserved.

 

He turned his back. 

 

_ ‘I love you, Nori and I…’ ‘Just kiss me. I love you too…’ _

 

Nori did not cry as he walked away. It was just raindrops on his face. From a cloudless blue sky.


End file.
